North Adams, Mass. – The SUNY Cobleskill women's volleyball team opened its 2026 season on Tuesday night, falling 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 12-25, 21-25) to MCLA inside the Amsler Campus Center.
Senior
Emma Hinze (Altenburg, Mo.) led the Fighting Tigers' attack with a team-high eight kills to go with three digs, two assists and a service ace. Sophomore
Audrey Davis (Hudson Falls, NY) added six kills and three digs while hitting .333 percent.
Jojo Haycock (Bowie, Md.) turned in a strong all-around performance tying her career-high with four service aces and a team-high 14 digs.
Aidan Simister (Manchester, NH) also had a career night from the service line with four aces and four digs.
Setter
Baylee Kirschberg (Lindenhurst, NY) dished out a team-high 11 assists while adding seven digs and three kills. Senior
Tori Harrington (Esperance, NY) finished with seven digs, while
Ciarra Jager (Stephentown, NY) led the Tigers at the net with three blocks to go along with five kills.
Cobleskill held a 44-40 advantage in digs and a 4-3 edge in blocks. MCLA finished with a 23-13 advantage in service aces and a 26-23 edge in assists. The teams were nearly even in hitting percentage, with Cobleskill at .102 and MCLA at .109.
Cobleskill fell behind 6-1 in the opening set before answering with a 7-1 run to take an 8-7 lead. The teams traded momentum throughout the frame, with
Hallie Gasner (Middleburgh, NY) delivering back-to-back service aces to give the Tigers a 13-12 edge. Cobleskill later moved ahead 18-17 and stayed in front, as Simister added a late ace before Davis put away a kill to help seal the 25-21 opening-set win.
The Fighting Tigers came out firing in the second set, jumping ahead 5-0 behind two blocks from Jager and an ace from Hinze. MCLA answered with five straight points and later used a 4-0 run to take an 18-14 lead. Cobleskill battled back to tie the set at 23-23, but the Trailblazers took advantage of two late errors to edge the Tigers, 25-23.
MCLA carried the momentum into the third set and quickly built a 9-4 advantage. Cobleskill was unable to overcome the early deficit as the Trailblazers pulled away for a 25-12 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The teams traded points early in the fourth set before MCLA used an 8-2 run to build a 12-6 lead. Cobleskill answered with a 4-1 run highlighted by a kill from
Kaleigh Capasso (Ballston Spa, NY) and later pulled within 24-21 after a late 6-1 push, but the Trailblazers closed out the set, 25-21, to secure the match.
Up Next:
The Fighting Tigers return to action on Friday, September 4, when they travel to St. Lawrence University for the North Country Classic. Cobleskill will face St. Lawrence at 3 p.m. before taking on SUNY Brockport at 5:30 p.m.
